Oceanside trustees
reject charter proposal

Oceanside Unified trustees this week denied a petition for a charter school that would have given students and parents an alternative to the district’s existing 23 schools.

The proposal was to open next school year a kindergarten through eighth-grade charter school run by the Chino-based Oxford Preparatory Academy. More than 1,000 Oceanside parents signed a petition supporting the school.

The trustees considered a report from Oceanside Unified administrators on the school’s prospects for success and adherence to the state law. District officials, including top administrators, spent more than 250 hours reviewing the proposal, ultimately determining the school would probably not be financially viable and wouldn’t be able to use the school district’s vacant campuses because other Oceanside schools will need them while their campuses are renovated. The school likely wouldn’t serve equally different ethnic groups in the district, and its proposed admission policies could exclude English-learner parents and low socioeconomic households, officials said. The trustees were presented with dozens of Power Point slides listing reasons not to approve the charter before unanimously rejecting the proposal.

The board action leaves Oxford Preparatory Academy with the option to either petition another school district or press the decision to the county Board of Education.